I got three new PCI graphics cards at the chop shop today.
I've installed two of them in my workstation beside my AGP card.
Previously my AGP card was driving two CRTs, one via an analog converter from the digital output, and one from the built in analog output. I required support from (crap!) NVidia software to enable this.
I was having some seriously annoying problems, whereby my screen would stop rendering. The UI elements (affectionately: widgets) wouldn't paint themselves until they had the input focus, leaving the background (whatever was previously at those pixels) visible.
It would start happening about every 30 to 45 minutes, at which time the only way to get everything back (well, not the *only* way, but the most effective way that I discovered) was to close all open applications, give the input focus to the desktop and press F5 a few times. That generally worked. A reboot always worked.
I decided the most likely culprit was the NVidia drivers (which don't have the MS Logo certifications). So I got some new cards.
My screens are painting way faster now (i.e. the rendering instructions on the message loop are clearly executing faster, as my apps 'lag' less) and the cards are driving my monitors at higher frequency (but my monitors are still crap ones..)
I'm happy today. So easily pleased..